From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Sun Nov 10 2002 - 17:13:50 MST
On Sunday, November 10, 2002 5:51 PM Mike Lorrey mlorrey@yahoo.com
wrote:
> On the contrary, there is. Prices need to be set by some
> means. If the free market is not to do it (as you have said
> free markets are opressive), then some authority must
> set prices. Your lack of appreciation for such a simple
> economic mechanism illustrates why your opinions on
> this matter seem to be less and less those of an informed
> individual.
I don't want to trade insults here, but I would like to reiterate the
prices on a free market are not really set by any one person or group by
by the interactions of various people and groups. Of course, from a
short run perspective, when you go shopping, it doesn't appear that your
preferences (backed by stuff to trade -- e.g., money) have much of an
impact. For instance, if you buy or don't buy the cauliflower on sale
doesn't seem to bother your grocer on any particular day, but the
interaction between you, your grocery, and other cauliflower buyers does
affect price.
Attempts to find alternative methods -- whether motivated by fairness or
"rationalizing" production or whatever -- have notably failed. The
problem is how can one have a real functioning economy without a price
system is a vexing one for those who propose alternatives to free
markets, be they socialists, syndicalists, communists, theocrats,
welfare-statists, or what have you. (I'm not bunching them all together
here to see all of them are morally or ideologically equal across the
board. I'm just underscoring that many of these types oppose a market
where outcomes -- specifically prices -- are outside of some social
plan's grip.)
A relevant starting point here would be the work of Ludwig von Mises and
Friedrich Hayek. The latter's seminal paper, "The Use of Knowledge in
Society" available online at
http://www.virtualschool.edu/mon/Economics/HayekUseOfKnowledge.html See
also the Hayek's scholar's page at
http://www.hayekcenter.org/friedrichhayek/hayek.html
Not to make this sound like a rant for libertarianism in all things, I
would just say this. If you believe that society must be organized
along some lines other than spontaneously generated ones -- and _a
priori_ I don't see either a pro or con position here as superior -- one
must merely be aware of the limits. A simple example might suffice. If
one wants, say, rent control -- maybe because one feels everyone should
have access to cheap housing -- one must face the fact that this will
most likely lead to a shortage of housing and even a black market in
housing. Ditto for all other sectors of an economy.
Cheers!
Dan
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/
Film recommendation: "All or Nothing" by Mike Leigh. Now in theaters.
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